A wide variety of portable tree seats or stands are known and are currently used. Sportsmen and hunters carry such stands along into wooded areas and can mount the stand or seat to a tree at a suitable height. Often such tree stands are used by bow hunters who attach the stands to the tree at a high elevation so that they can shoot down at deer. However, tree seats are also utilized to provide a comfortable and convenient seat at normal chair height.
In a typical construction for a portable tree seat or stand, the seat or platform is formed to butt up against the tree at one end and to be firmly attached to the tree at that end, as by a rope or collar which encircles the tree and is attached also to the platform at the end which meets the tree. To hold the platform in position extending horizontally away from the tree, the typical tree seat has a brace or spar pivotally connected to the underside of the platform near its outer end; the brace then is adapted to extend downwardly and engage with the tree to thereby support the weight of the individual sitting on the platform. Examples of such prior tree seat structures are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,711,783; 3,115,213; 3,730,294; 3,749,200; 3,927,733; 4,113,057; 4,484,660. Of particular significance in such tree seat designs is the manner in which the brace is held in position against the tree so that the brace does not slip and release its support of the platform. Thus, tree seats have been formed having braces with spiked or pointed tips to penetrate into the tree to positively prevent slippage, or which otherwise include means to hold the end of the brace in position on the tree. However, such designs often prove difficult to adjust in position on the tree, and sometimes allow the platform to shift from a horizontal position as weight is applied to the platform and the platform slides downwardly on the tree. Many of the prior tree platforms have additionally been relatively heavy and bulky, making them inconvenient to carry into the woods.